Himachal farmers pioneer sustainable cultivation of endangered Himalayan herb ‘Kutki’

In the higher reaches of the Himalayas, an agricultural initiative is helping bring one of the region’s most prized medicinal plants back from the brink of extinction. Decades of destructive wild harvesting pushed Picrorhiza kurroa , known locally as Kutki, a herb used in medicinal formulations, onto the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Now, a sustainable cultivation model adopted by farmers in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district is showing promising signs of conserving the species while boosting the rural mountain economy.